Convicted embezzler hired by new victim

LONDON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A woman who plundered two more British companies after being convicted of false accounting has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Investigators said that Sharon Bridgewater, during a 10-year crime spree, lived the "lavish lifestyle of a footballer's wife," a reference to the high-spending ways of women married to soccer stars. She bought sports cars, fine wines and a villa in Spain, took vacations in the Caribbean and gave her boyfriend a Ferrari Spider for his birthday, The Guardian reported.

Bridgewater, who claimed to be a trained accountant, was hired in 1996 by Dyna Five, a company in Epsom, Surrey. The company went out of business after she stole $50,000, and she was sentenced to community service for false accounting.

She moved on to a $150,000-a-year position as financial director at Hicklin Slade, a London marketing company. Investigators say she stole $4 million and then moved on to another job when the company found layoffs necessary.

Her boyfriend, Robert Sangster, who described himself as a "kept man," was given a nine-month suspended sentence.